2021-2024

Diana and Hudson walking up the stairs and smiling at the business school.

The Skoll Centre Three Year Report

This report evaluates the Skoll Centre's evolution and impact from 2021 to 2024. 

Having spent much of 2024 refining our strategy, building our team, and developing new partnerships, the Centre is poised to deliver even more effectively on its mission – equipping leaders to catalyse systemic social change within and beyond business. 

We could not have come so far without the support of the Skoll Foundation, Saïd Business School, our community, and our staff. As we grow and expand our impact, we look forward to connecting with and supporting people who share in our vision – a world in which leaders across sectors bridge divides to transform broken systems

This report was developed by the Skoll Centre and designed by Bounce Design. 

Topic: The Skoll Centre
Timeline: December, 2024
Read the Report

Education

Over the past 20 years, the Skoll Centre has developed transformational learning experiences for students at the University of Oxford and around the world, equipping them with the mindsets and skills needed for catalysing systemic social change.

  • Our flagship programme, the Skoll Scholarship, enrolled its 20th cohort in 2023-24, creating a community of nearly 100 Skoll Scholars. 91% of Skoll Scholars have gone on to start a new social venture or initiative.

  • We have reached 5,000 postgraduate students at Oxford University through courses and co-curricular offerings, including the Impact Lab leadership development programme.

  • We have delivered Map the System, our systems thinking learning programme and competition, to over 15,000 students globally.

Community

We have built a global community of academics and practitioners working in social entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact.

  • More than 100 fellows and affiliates have worked with us over the past 20 years, serving as researchers, instructors, and thought partners. We also connect community members with one another, forging new collaborations at the intersection of research and practice.

  • Through our Map the System educator network, we have supported 350 educators to offer transformational systems thinking programming at over 60 institutions across five continents.

  • We collaborate with organisations around the world – including businesses, foundations, social enterprises, and NGOs – to develop research and educational programmes that accelerate impact within and beyond business.

Research

The Skoll Centre has contributed pioneering thought leadership and research to establish and advance the fields of social entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact.

  • Skoll-affiliated faculty have published more than 200 publications that not only change the academic discourse on social impact but also influence practice. Recent faculty publications cover leading and organising, financing, measuring, and scaling systemic change. 

  • Our seminars and podcasts, which have reached over 25,000 people, bring researchers and practitioners together to share ideas that spark change. The Insights for Action seminar series has featured conversations about social sustainability in global supply chains; the art, science, and business of sustainable finance; and both/and thinking for tackling systemic problems.

     

Our approach

While these numbers offer a useful way of quantifying our impact, they are not the whole picture. We are actively working to complement quantitative assessments of impact with rich qualitative accounts that reveal the full power of what we do and how it has an impact.